Design and Development of Cognitive-Based Educational Strategies to Combat Illicit Drug Use in Bodybuilding Clubs of the Country

Introduction: Today, sports are considered as an international foundation all over the world, on the one hand, the abuse of drugs and supplements in sports, on the other hand, the abuse of drugs and supplements in sports is one of the problems that today's societies are facing. Aim: The present research aimed to design and develop cognitive-based educational strategies to combat illicit drug use in bodybuilding clubs of the country. Method: This study is a descriptive-correlational research based on structural equation modeling and is also considered an applied research in terms of objectives. The statistical population of the study included all instructors of the country's bodybuilding and fitness federation and sports science professors knowledgeable about the research topic, and the sample size was determined to be 402 using G*Power version 1.3. Accordingly, 450 questionnaires were distributed, and 408 respondents correctly completed the research questionnaire. The researcher-made questionnaire was used as the research tool, consisting of 26 items and 7 components with a 5-point Likert scale (completely agree to completely disagree). After confirming the validity of the questionnaires with the help of 8 experts and specialists, their reliability was also confirmed by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and they were used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to analyze the collected data. In the descriptive statistics section, frequency tables and charts, relative frequency, and population characteristics of the research participants were used, and mean and standard deviation were calculated. In the inferential statistics section, structural equation modeling using SmartPLS version 4 software was used to investigate the research model. Results: The results of the data analysis showed that cognitive-based educational content, cognitive leadership style, information acquisition, dissemination of information, information deletion, cognitive-based teaching methods, and human resources in cognitive-based education are educational strategies to combat illicit drug use in bodybuilding clubs of the country. Conclusion: By developing the cognitive knowledge of the athletes in this field, he convinced them to stay away and avoid the consumption of these supplements, and therefore, for the development of cognitive knowledge, a comprehensive planning regarding the design of cognitive knowledge content, the training of expert human resources in this field, and attention to knowledge and informed the trainers and officials of this field.